Irish DPC issues 405M euro children's privacy fine against Instagram

Politico reports Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Meta's Instagram 405 million euros for children's privacy violations under the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The fine, which is the second-largest GDPR penalty to ever be handed down, covers alleged violations stemming from Instagram's default account settings for children ages 13-17 that exposed email addresses and phone numbers associated with child-operated accounts. The investigation into the allegations began in October 2020 and the preliminary decision by the DPC was subject to a dispute resolution procedure under Article 65 of the GDPR. A Meta spokesperson said the fine concerns "old settings that we updated over a year ago" and it is "carefully reviewing their final decision."